Good farming help is easy to find at Penn State's AgMap online database

University Park, Pa. -- Good help is hard to find -- especially when it's skilled agricultural workers. Pennsylvania farmers can find help by accessing an online agricultural directory sponsored by Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

AgMap, Penn State's Internet-based agricultural database service at http://agmap.psu.edu now offers free online classified ads for any enrolled business. Classified ad categories include "Help Wanted" job postings, "For Sale" and "Wanted to Buy." Potential applicants will be provided contact information and can search the job opportunity database based on job characteristics. AgMap originator Rick Day, associate professor of soil science and environmental information systems, says the free service allows farming operations to draw labor from a regional pool.

"For many agricultural jobs, especially at higher technical levels, there may not be local workers with the appropriate skills," he says. "AgMap can help connect producers with qualified workers from outside their immediate area -- people who don't read the local want-ads. It also benefits people in agricultural fields who are looking for new job opportunities."

Day explains that the classifieds also can be a resource for anyone interested in an agricultural career to research related jobs that people don’t always associate with agriculture.

"For example, forest and wood products, turfgrass, landscape and nursery services," he says. "I think it would be great if young people could see that there are many jobs available when they are considering entering an agricultural educational program and to have further opportunities when they graduate."

Using AgMap, farmers and other agricultural businesses can sell anything from used equipment to excess stock. The service is intended for short-term or one-time sales rather than the products that they sell consistently through their business.

"There are a lot of small and rural businesses that are in poor locations in terms of visibility, and this service 'puts them on the map' and makes them visible," he says. "If someone wants to sell something on a one-time basis, like a lawn tractor or a harvester, they can advertise. Users can search the database by keywords for these items the same way they search other business AgMap sites. The advertiser can remove or update the ad at any time and can also post images so that prospective buyers can see the items. AgMap offers free enrollment, a secure log-in to add, edit and update business information, online mapping of the business's location and worldwide visibility for member's products and services."

While other sites charge fees for similar services, Day points out that Penn State Cooperative Extension and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture provide financial support for the marketing and promotion of AgMap through the Land Analysis Laboratory in the university's Geospatial Technology Program, which maintains the Web-enabled database linked to a geographic information system.

Another new AgMap service is its Community Bulletin Board, which allows members to post questions and other users can respond with helpful information. Day says it can help farmer-to-farmer communication.

"The farmer can link to other farmers who might have a pest or drought problem and find out what solutions others have tried," he says. "It's a great communication tool. Addresses, phone numbers and e-mail are all listed on the Web site, so they have easy opportunity to link with other farmers."

Day says AgMap also helps producers with agricultural market analysis to locate competitors or identify voids in services where new businesses might be successful.

"Many Pennsylvanians don't know what's being grown within a few miles of their homes, and farmers are no exception," he says. "Local producers may not know that the resources they need are available in the next county. And area businesses such as supermarkets or restaurants might not know that what they need is available locally."